Musician Lewy Dalyricist Speaks About His Tribute to #BraamSuicide Victim

Musician Lewy Dalyricist spoke to Funiwe Ngwenya from Street Expression about what inspired him to release a song about suicide victim Kago Moeng.

“I really feel she deserved to have a story told about her,” said the singer whose real name is Lewis Nyirenda. The artist wrote a song titled Dear Kago in honour of the 19-year-old Wits student, who took her own life.

Dear Kago was an opportunity for Lewy to address his own struggle with depression. When news broke of the young lady’s suicide, #BraamSuicide was trending on social media with many people commenting on the incident.

“The more I read the tweets and everything, the more she became closer and the more I felt connected to her. I realised that I’ve been in that situation before because when I was younger I also tried to commit suicide,” the artist explained.

Dear Kago was released on audiomack on the 17th of October.

During the filming break, Lewy told TheOpen Journal about the time he attempted suicide.

“It was a very long time ago and I think I got into a clash with my parents. I don’t exactly remember what the clash was about, but I really got mad and I walked all the way to the main road as we were staying close to the main road.

I’m actually from Malawi and I was born there. At the time when I was in Malawi, I walked to the main road that was very busy. I got onto the road and there was this truck that was coming; I just lay there,” Lewy remembered.

Luckily for him, the man who was driving the truck saw him, stopped the truck immediately and drove Lewy home.

Thinking back to this dark time in his life, the musician said he would not encourage anyone to attempt suicide because it’s not worth it. Lewy advised students to find an outlet to offload and overcome their depression.

“There’s the social status and the built pressure. You need to have somewhere where you can offload – either friends or your music if you’re doing music, writing if you’re a writer. Just speak and say something,” he said.

Taking a walk to the site of the interview, UJ’s Art Centre, Lewy began reminiscing about his time as a law student at the University of Johannesburg. It has been almost seven years since Lewy left the University and being back made him realise how far he has come.

Two years into studying for his law degree, Lewy decided to drop out of school. He packed everything and went home. When he got home, his parents were confused and shocked about the decision he had made.

His parents only started accepting the career path that he had chosen once they started seeing him on TV and hearing him on the radio.

“What’s great is that everything fell into place when I started with music; I got into radio and appeared on Shizniz (a youth show on etv) as well,” Lewy said. He encourages students to choose well and study what they love.

The young musician has been afforded many exciting opportunities. “There are so many doors that have been opening up for me lately and I’ve managed to score a collaboration with Zimbabwe’s biggest artists,” he said.

“Both of these artists have several awards and they are really big. Funny enough one of the artists heard the song and honestly, I didn’t think the song would go this far.”